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Marusan
Marusan (マルサン) is a Japanese model and toy company. It is known as the first Japanese plastic model manufacturer and also famous for selling PVC kaiju (monster) character toys during the 1960s. Its headquarters were located in Taito, Tokyo. History Marusan was founded in 1947. Its business was mainly selling tin toys and optical toys. In 1950, the company was formally incorporated as "Marusan Shoten Ltd.". In 1958, Marusan released their first plastic model kit, based on the submarine USS Nautilus. This model was recognized as the first Japanese domestic plastic model kit, though it was actually a copy of Revell's product. They called their plastic model kits "Plamodel" (puramoderu) and registered it as a trademark in 1959. Marusan also tied up with Revell in 1960 and sold many Revell plastic models in Japan. In 1967 Marusan changed their name to "Maruzan Co., Ltd."(K.K.Maruzan). Although the reason for change of the name was for wishing development of the company, Maruzan was unexpectedly bankrupted in 1968. After the bankruptcy of Marusan three companies were established. "Marusan Co., Ltd" (K.K. Marusan) took over the name "Marusan" and the registered trademark "Plamodel". "Bullmark" took over PVC monster character toys and monster-related plastic models. "Fuji Hobby" took over the military plastic model kit production. Newborn Marusan released small models such as 1:100 scale Japanese fighter series in the early 1970s. In the mid 1970s, Marusan stopped to produce original brand toys and models. Plastic model products Marusan products included original molds, molds from other companies such as Pyro and Snap, copies of molds by other companies such as Revell, Monogram, ITC, Aurora and Lindberg. In turn, several other companies used Marusan molds. Marusan also served as the first Revell/Japan in the early 1960s, issuing many Revell kits in the regular Revell box-art with Marusan logo and Japanese language instruction added. After bankruptcy in 1968, molds were acquired by several companies such as Bullmark, Fuji Hobby, Nichimo and Doyusha. US company UPC reboxed and re-issued various Marusan kits in 1960s, including copy kits from Monogram, Lindberg etc. Eldon Industries also re-issued Marusan kits as "Match Kit" in the late 1960s. *'1/100 scale aircraft series' - mainly WW II era fighters, some large bombers such as B-29, and some post WW II jet fighters such as F-86 and F-104. *'1/50 scale aircraft series' - including some fine original models such as F-86D along with copies of 1/48 scale kits of the US companies. *'Matchbox series' - very small size aircraft models for children. *'Various scale aircraft' - almost all were copies of other company models. *'1/700 scale Imperial Japanese Navy Combined Fleet series' - Japanese battleships, aircraft carriers and heavy cruisers. *'1/400 scale IJN Combined Fleet series' - Battleship Yamato, Musashi and carrier Shinano. *'Tallship series' - Nippon Maru, Kaiwo Maru etc. *'Torpedo boat series' *'Various scale boat and ship' - ex-Pyro *'HO scale armored division series' - copies of Roco Minitanks. *'1/40 scale military vehicle series' - ex-Snap *'Movie series' - Orion from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Proteus from Fantastic Voyage, Jupiter II from Lost in Space etc. *'Figure series' - Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Tarzan, Visible Man etc. *''Godzilla'' series - walking Godzilla, Baragon etc. *''Ultra Q'' series - walking Gomess, Peguila etc. *''Ultraman'' series - Jet VTOL, walking Ultraman, Redking etc. *''Ultra Seven'' series - Pointer, Ultra Hawk 1, Ultra Seven etc. *''Captain Ultra'' series Logo Catalog Collection * Category:Kit manufacturers Category:Catalog